Evgeny Vodolazkin’s novel “Laurus” about the life of a medieval healer became a literary event of 2013 (shortlisted for the “National Bestseller,” “Big Book,” and “Russian Booker” awards; winner of the “Yasnaya Polyana” prize). It once again confirmed that “high literature” can captivate listeners of the most diverse kinds.
In the book “Quite Another Time,” the author—seemingly refuting the title—repeats a favorite idea: “time doesn’t exist; everything is one and everything is connected with everything.” A young historian throws himself into another era, reconstructing the life story of a white general (“Soloviev and Larionov”), and it suddenly, in an astonishing way, begins to affect his own life. A German soldier who reached Stalingrad (“Close Friends”), decades later, returns to Russia to go through this path again…